A conference on clinical research methods in complementary and alternative medicine will be held in Portland OR in September, 2002, entitled Advances in CAM Clinical Research Methodology. Two hundred attendees are expected. The meeting will consist of plenary sessions for presentations on critical methodological issues, invited presentations on methodologic developments in related areas, volunteered paper and poster sessions, and luncheon roundtables. The program will also include reports from recently convened conferences that have examined methodologic issues unique to CAM disciplines. The target audience of this conference is CAM researchers and research-oriented clinicians, scientists from related disciplines and all those involved in funding and publication of CAM research. In order to assure a successful first conference, a smaller workshop of approximately 30 participants, drawn from the NCCAM funded centers and representing all relevant disciplines, will be held in February 2002. The group will develop position papers on key methodologic issues for CAM clinical trials for presentation at the plenary session of the conference. The conference will have an Organizing Committee to oversee the conference, assure completion of the specific aims, and plan for future conferences. The specific aims of this conference are: (1) to focus attention on methodological issues in CAM clinical research; (2) to share the advantages and disadvantages of various methodologic approaches through scientific sessions; (3) to stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration in methods dissemination and development; (4) to identify progress and future research priorities in regard to methods development; (5) to foster the scientific rigor of CAM clinical research; (6) to enhance the careers of junior CAM investigators, and underrepresented genders and minorities, through interaction with other scientists and the opportunity to present their work; (7) to disseminate the results of these meetings through publication of proceedings, including the methods position papers.